Shared Radio Bearer and Management of Ue Radio Id and Ran Path

3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the shared RLC entity is configured to perform RLC operations on packets being transmitted to or received from a plurality of UEs.

4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the shared PDCP entity is configured to perform PDCP operations on packets being transmitted to or received from a plurality of UEs.

5. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the shared RB L2 structure is implemented for the plurality of UEs having one or more of: a same QoS level, belonging to a same network slice and belonging to a same UE group.

6. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein a MAC entity associated with the shared RB L2 structure is a shared MAC entity of the shared radio bearer, the shared MAC entity configured to manage medium access control operations for communicating data to and from the plurality of UEs.

7. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the shared RB L2 structure is a signaling radio bearer, or wherein the shared radio bearer is a data radio bearer.

8. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein wireless resources allocated for communication with the plurality of UEs, modulation and coding schemes allocated for communication with the plurality of UEs, or both, are fixed, the apparatus further configured to communicate said fixed allocations to the plurality of UEs.

9. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein wireless resources allocated for communication with the plurality of UEs, modulation and coding schemes allocated for communication with the plurality of UEs, or both, are variable per transmission, the apparatus further configured to communicate said variable allocations to the plurality of UEs.

10. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein access to wireless resources for communication by the plurality of UEs is contention-based.

11. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein access to wireless resources for communication by the plurality of UEs is contention-free, the apparatus further configured to provide per-transmission resource assignment signals for use by the plurality of UEs in accessing the wireless resources.

12. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the shared PDCP entity is configured to create a PDCP protocol data unit (PDU) including a PDCP header, the PDCP header including one or more of a UE identifier, a sequence number and a slice identifier.

13. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the shared RLC entity is configured to create a RLC protocol data unit (PDU) including a RLC header, the RLC header including one or more of a UE identifier, a packet identifier, a segment identifier, a slice identifier and a description of a payload in the RLC PDU.

14. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the RLC header includes a packet identifier, the packet identifier selected from a random identifier pool by the shared RLC entity.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the shared radio bearer is implemented for the plurality of UEs having one or more of: a same QoS level, belonging to a same network slice and belonging to a same UE group.

17. The method of claim 15, wherein the R-ID value assigned to a particular UE uniquely identifies the UE within one or more of a predetermined geographic area and a predetermined network slice.

18. The method of claim 15, wherein the shared RLC entity is configured to assign an identifier to each PDCP protocol data unit (PDU) received.

19. The method of claim 15, wherein the shared RLC entity is configured to assign a segment identifier to a PDCP PDU when segmentation of the PDCP PDU is required.

20. The method of claim 15, wherein the shared PDCP entity is configured to perform PDCP operations relating to the R-I D.

21. The method of claim 15, wherein each of the per-UE PDCP entities perform PDCP operations on a per UE basis.

23. The method of claim 22, wherein the R-ID value assigned to a particular UE uniquely identifies the UE within one or more of a predetermined geographic area and a predetermined network slice.

24. The method of claim 22, one or more of the packet segments encapsulate a PDCP protocol data unit (PDU) or one or more of the packet segments encapsulate a segment of a PDCP PDU.

25. The method of claim 22, during re-assembling said packet segments, the shared RLC entity, upon determination of a missing packet segment, triggers retransmission of the missing packet segment.